Exhibit: European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award 2011

Helmut Jahn born in Germany, graduated from the Technische Hochschule in Munich and came to the United States for graduate studies in architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Today, as President and Chief Executive Officer at Murphy/Jahn, recipient of the 2005 AIA National Firm Award and 2006 AIA Chicago Chapter Firm Award, he has been called Chicago's premiere architect and has dramatically changed the face of Chicago. His growing national and international reputation has led to commissions across the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia.

During the 1960s the firm designed some of the more distinguished buildings in Chicago using a vocabulary of Miesian geometry. Later, Jahn began to embrace the intuitive nature of creative rationalism. This led to a more flexible approach to design and signaled a decisive break with the unchallenged ideology of the Modernist past. Using a "variable, wide-ranging architectural language" to describe a building's contextual relationship, Jahn generated a symbolic code which could be appreciated by both professional architects and the general public. A former student of Mies van der Rohe, Jahn has the unique experience to link the past  with the present - and the future. Wine reception to follow.

About the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award

An initiative of the European Commission organized by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture -Mies van der Rohe Award is a biennial prize to commend architectural excellence and draw attention to the important contribution of European professionals in the development of new concepts and technologies. The award offers individuals and public institutions an opportunity to reach a clearer understanding of the cultural role of architecture in the construction of our cities. Furthermore, the Prize seeks to support young professionals as they set off on their careers. In recognition of their conceptual, technical and structural qualities, two projects are selected for each edition: one receives the Prize itself, the other the Emerging Architect Special Mention. In addition, a set of finalists and shortlisted works are included in the exhibition and catalogue.
The winner of the 2011 Prize is the Neues Museum (Berlin, Germany) by David Chipperfield Architects, and the Emerging Architect Special Mention is the Collage House (Girona, Spain) by Ramon Bosch and Bet Capdeferro.

The winners were chosen from 343 submitted works in 33 European countries. Six works were shortlisted for the main award. The other finalists were: Bronks Youth Theatre (Brussels, Belgium) Martine De Maeseneer, Dirk Van den Brande/MDMA; MAXXI Museum of XXI Century Arts (Rome, Italy) by Zaha Hadid, Patrick Schumacher/Zaha Hadid Architects); Danish Radio Concert Hall (Copenhagen, Denmark) by Jean Nouvel/Ateliers Jean Nouvel; Acropolis Museum (Athens, Greece) by Bernard Tschumi/Bernard Tschumi Architects) and Groot Klimmendaal Rehabilitation Centre(Arnhem, The Netherlands) by Koen van Velsen/Architectenbureau Koen van Velsen. In addition to the Prize Winner, Special Mention and the finalists, 38 works were shortlisted for the exhibition and catalogue. This exhibit and lecture series is organized by the Instituto Cervantes, the European Comission, the Fundació Mies van der Rohe in Barcelona and the Institut Ramon Llull with the collaboration of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Cultural Service at the Consulate General of France in Chicago, the Goethe-Institut of Chicago, the Alliance Française and the MAS Studio, with the support of Ajuntament de Barcelona, Ministerio de Fomento, Generalitat de Catalunya, Consorci de la Zona Franca, Fira de Barcelona, Consulate General of Switzerland, Consulate General of Poland, the Consulate General of Sweden, the Consulate General of Greece and the Austrian Consulate General.